BRT Update and Creekside project approval tonight

So there’s two meetings tonight that might be of interest to my readers. They’re certainly both of interest to me. Unfortunately, my job prevents me from attending either of them. But if you’re into transit and smart growth and not doing anything this evening, you might want to consider one of these options: Read more

Late night local election results

In November 2006, I cried myself to sleep on election night. The next day, I was so despondent, I could barely bring myself to speak to my co-workers all day. When one of them finally cornered me and demanded I tell her what was wrong, all I could manage to say was “I’m upset about the election. I don’t want to talk about it.” She recoiled, then recovered, then whispered, in like, the most sympathetic tone imaginable, “Oh, V! You poor thing! I had no idea you were a Republican.” Read more

Why put BRT on Telegraph?

The complaint I hear most often about AC Transit’s BRT proposal is that it mimics the BART line. I find this claim utterly bizarre, and my immediate inclination is to dismiss such concerns as coming from people who obviously don’t use transit to travel the route and don’t really understand much, if anything, about bus service. And while it is true that this talking point doesn’t actually make any logical sense, and I don’t think public agencies should make decisions based on the will of the completely uninformed, I want to see BRT have buy-in from as broad a constituency as possible. So, in that spirit, I’m going to try to explain here why AC Transit wants to put BRT along Telegraph and International. Read more

It isn’t about speed, it’s about reliability.

Aah, it’s been a while since I talked about BRT. The Berkeley Daily Planet, or, as I like to call it, the We Hate BRT Weekly, has worn me down with their incessant lying and uninformed ranting and I just don’t even want to have to think about it ever. Read more

Ballot Measure Round-up

Oakland voters will have themselves a packed ballot in November. On top of picking a brand-new City Councilmember and deciding whether they feel like adding another $450/year to their tax bills, they also have a whole slew of inane propositions to say no to at the State level. Anyway, in case you’re having trouble keeping track, here’s the rundown.

Local:

• Measure VV, AC-Transit: Increases its existing parcel tax by $48 a year for 10 years to fund transit improvements for seniors, people with disabilities and students. Two-thirds vote required.
• Measure WW, East Bay Regional Park District: Extends existing property tax of $10 per $100,000 assessed valuation per year. Proceeds of $500 million will be used for preservation of creeks, wildlife, open space, purchase of open space and development of parks and trails. Two-thirds vote required.
• Measure N, Oakland: Levies a 10-year parcel tax of $120 a year for improvements at the city’s public charter schools. Two-thirds vote required.
• Measure NN, Oakland: Establishes a parcel tax to fund the addition of police officers, crime management data systems and independent audits. Two-thirds vote required.
• Measure OO, Oakland: Amends city charter to increase the dollar amount of grants to organizations serving children and increase the amount the city must spend on children and youth. Majority vote required.

State:

• Proposition 1: Authorizes the state to sell $9.95 billion in bonds to partially fund a high-speed passenger train between Los Angeles and Northern California. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 2: Prohibits the confinement on a farm of pregnant pigs, calves raised for veal and egg-laying hens in a manner that does not allow them to turn around freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 3: Authorizes the state to sell $980 million in bonds for construction projects at children’s hospitals, including the five University of California children’s hospitals. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 4: Amends the California Constitution to require a physician to notify the parent or legal guardian of pregnant minor at least 48 hours prior to performing an abortion involving that minor. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 5: Expands drug treatment diversion programs for criminal offenders, modified parole supervision procedures, allows inmates to earn time off their terms for participation in rehabilitation programs and reduces penalties for marijuana possession. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 6: Creates new state-funded criminal justice programs and mandates that funding for certain existing programs be maintained at 2007-2008 levels. Total funding would increase by $365 million to $965 million starting in 2009. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 7: Establishes and enforces increased use of renewable resources on electricity-generating companies. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 8: Amends the California Constitution to specify that marriage is between a man and a woman. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 9: Amends the California Constitution to expand the legal rights of victims of crime and mandate payment of restitution by offenders, restrict early release of inmates and change the procedures for granting and revoking parole. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 10: Authorizes the state to sell $5 billion in bonds for renewable energy, alternative fuel, energy efficiency and air emissions reduction programs.
• Proposition 11: Amends the California Constitution to shift the responsibility for drawing political boundaries from the Legislature to an independent citizens commission. Congressional lines are exempted from the new commission’s duties but state Assembly, Senate and Board of Equalization districts after the 2010 Census would fall under its purview. Majority vote required.
• Proposition 12: Authorizes the state to sell $900 million in bonds for the Cal-Vet program, which would allow 3,600 additional veterans to receive farm and home loans. Majority vote required.

Oh, and if that’s giving you a headache, just thank your lucky stars that you don’t live in San Francisco, where they have to deal with ballot measures A through V. OMG!

AC Transit on Bay Area Backroads this weekend

Transit lovers, and maybe transit skeptics too, may want to check out Bay Area Backroads this weekend, which will feature a segment highlighting some of the exciting places in the East Bay you can visit on AC Transit.

The show airs on KRON 4 at 6 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Also, you can watch it online.

AC Transit may raise taxes instead of fares

I haven’t had time to write about AC Transit’s proposed fare hike, and I don’t have time right now to write about their proposed tax hike instead. I think that both issues are complicated enough to deserve more than a “yes, I support this” or “no, I don’t support this” comment, so I’m not offering any opinions on either at this time. I just wanted to point out, in response to a comment on the Chronicle story that reads:

tax the people who use ac transit only. no one else.

that the benefits of good bus service extended to everyone on the roads, not just the transit dependent. I could go on explaining this, but, um, The Onion really covered it pretty well like 8 years ago, so just go read that.

Re-enchanting the World through Art

So I posted about the world’s largest chalk drawing yesterday, and went down to the site myself last night and again this morning. OMG, it’s the greatest thing. I easily spent an hour just walking around the drawing and looking at all the different things the kids have done. I got an opportunity to talk to Mark Wagner, who conceived of the project in 2003 and has spent the last 2 years working to make it happen. And he’s done an amazing job! They’ve brought in literally thousands of children. Every elementary school in Alameda has been out to the site (and they all got there on the AC Transit bus #63) to draw. He’s a wonderfully nice guy (he even went out of his way to come compliment my childish looking drawing), has worked incredibly hard to coordinate the project, and I think he’s really brought something valuable to the community. Read more

The world’s largest chalk drawing

Continuing the theme of sweet stories that cheer me up, check this out.

(Photo from the Kids’ Chalk Art Project Website)

This isn’t in Oakland, but it is nearby, and I really thought it was sweet. An artist in Alameda has spent like 2 years putting together this project where he brings in kids from local elementary schools to color a 90,000 square foot chalk drawing out at the Naval Base on Alameda Point, which, when completed, will be the largest chalk drawing ever in the world. ABC7 had a really cute story about it on Monday. If you want to help out, you can show up on Saturday morning to help fill in all the space that’s left before they take the big satellite photo at 11:20. You can visit the Kids’ Chalk Art Project website here, and watch a really sweet YouTube video about it here or follow their progress on their blog here.

And if you do decide to go, remember that you can get there on the AC Transit bus #63, just like all the kids have been doing for the last month.

Worth reading this weekend

• Becks sounds the alarm about a new Berkeley initiative to halt BRT:
  

  Regardless of any issues one may have with AC Transit’s current BRT proposal, this is just bad planning. This initiative would mean that anytime the City wanted to convert lanes to transit-only lanes, the decision would have to be made by the Berkeley electorate. Even if the dedicated bus lane only extended one block into Berkeley from Oakland or another neighboring city, Berkeley residents would have the final say. Projects could be held up for months or even years if an election wasn’t approaching (I don’t see the city holding special elections for this issue).

Read more

Filed Under: AC Transit, BRT, CEDA, army base, downtown, oakland, public transit, redevelopment agency, worth reading, zoning
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Confused about BRT?

March 10, 2008 by V Smoothe · Leave a Comment 

Come out tonight to this ULTRA sponsored meeting and get someone nicer than me to answer your questions.

Does Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) make sense for Oakland and Berkeley?

Monday, March 10th, 7pm-9pm
Faith Presbyterian Church, 430 49th St

Discussion with representatives from Transportation and Land Use
Coalition (TALC) and AC Transit.

Filed Under: AC Transit, BRT, oakland, public transit
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Is BRT redundant with BART?

February 11, 2008 by V Smoothe · 12 Comments 

A new comment on my East Bay BRT Q&A post informs me that the BRT route actually overlaps BART, and that BRT is therefore not “the most efficient utilization of our TaxMegaBuxx.”

I would remind the commenter that BART’s per trip subsidy is nearly three times that of AC Transit’s, and that the projected cost of completing the entire BRT route is less than building 2 miles of BART.

Anyway, I maintain that for people actually using transit to get around, BART and the BRT route serve completely different functions. If they didn’t, the line wouldn’t have 25,000 boardings a day, making it among the busiest bus routes in the entire Bay Area. Anyway, here’s a map:



The BRT route is in green, and BART stations are the black dots.

What do you think, readers?

Filed Under: AC Transit, BRT, oakland, public transit
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